Instant Equity? |
I'm seeing an increasing number of listings with this kind of verbiage in the description "Instant equity of $40,000!" "Priced lower than assessed value."
This is absolutely absurd!
When prices were increasing at a ridiculous prices no one would have sold their home for assessed value. Tax assessments have very little relation to market value. That's true when the market price is going up and it remains true when the prices are going down.
Typically the assessed value lags what's actually going on in the market place. They may occasionally be in the same place at the same time. But generally speaking you should assume that there's absolutely no relationship between the assessed value and what a home will sell for.
So, if someone is telling you that there's instant equity in the home because the price is below the tax assessment value, they're wrong! Be very careful about those kind of advertisements.
